Thor shelving housing at Coney; planning hotels, time-shares

Thor Equities says it will not seek to build housing or a 40-story tower as part of its $1.5 billion plan for the Coney Island site where Astroland currently stands. Thor planned to build hundreds of condos and rentals in addition to a new amusement park. Earlier this year, City Planning chief Amanda Burden said Thor’s housing plans were “incompatible” with the amusement zoning where the developer is seeking to build. In response, Thor chief Joseph Sitt said he might not build a new amusement park if the city didn’t let him construct housing. Now, however, Thor says it wants to construct three hotels that include hundreds of time-share units rather than condos and apartments. The developer is said to be asking the city for more than $100 million in subsidies for its project. more [NYT] and more [Gowanus Lounge] and more [Kinetic Carnival]